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Shiny Happy People

                      

Someone else thought they could go on vacation and then walk away without incident. I don't think so. The concept: bathe his entire cube in aluminum foil. Every object, every surface, shiny side out. And then put a strobe light underneath, to increase the viewing pleasure (and possibly induce seizure). My favorite was the single post-it note to the left of his monitor, with a lovingly wrapped push pin.

Of course, the beauty of pulling office pranks is that the act of pranking someone usually leads to lots and lots of new prank ideas. Oh man, I have a great idea that I'm going to hold onto for a while. A few more pics from the event:

        

Coincidentally, RTC B4 is now home to the largest ball of aluminum foil on Microsoft campus. Come check it out before the tourists take over and it becomes un-cool.

Welcome to Your New Office

                       

What do I always tell you people? That's right, DON'T GO ON VACATION. Nothing good ever comes out of it. So what did I do? I took a week of vacation (and only checked email a couple dozen times), and my team lashed out. Ryan was the main instigator, but apparently they were all in on it. In Ryan's own words:

What can be said?  His turn was coming.  How could we let the opportunity to prank the one that has been known as the “king of pranks” get away with taking a vacation unscathed?  Because of the reputation that was built by our fearless leader, it had to be something great.  Something to be remembered.  Something for all to see and appreciate.  The one that tops them all!  So a plan was devised – we were either going to move him to a new office, or “compress” his office – meaning, take all of his stuff and fit it as tight of a corner as possible, utilizing the fine art of stacking.  The best use of all of the space – floor to ceiling would be needed.  But alas – another idea was presented – Why not give him an office with a view?  So it was decided that cbuck was deserving of the sky bridge, the one that connects RTC B4 and RTC B5.

                    

                         (what it looked like this morning)

The plan was put into place, and Operation: Dinner Out, paying homage to the movie Spy Game, was planned.  We used the code name in case he was expecting something and checking our shared calendars.  Sunday evening the move took place.  The goal was to move as much as practical out of his office and into the sky bridge.  All said and done, his 2 desk sections, phone, speakers, docking station, monitor, printer, file cabinet, refrigerator, bookshelf – with books, mug, and a Cure poster (for a homely feel) were moved.  While this was going on, you could hear the security cameras taking pictures, and I imagined somewhere in a dark room, Microsoft security was watching and that a visit would be coming shortly.

The best was yet to come – Monday morning as cbuck arrives, he enters his office to find it empty, and is helped along by his trusty friend – Dwight Schrute to help him find his new office.  After a good 5-10 minutes of looking, and walking the 3^rd floor, as the clues directed, he was unable to locate his office.  After a helpful hint from members of the BOSS team, he was able to find his new “workspace”.  The unfortunate lack of power in the sky bridge will require his move back to normal office life sooner than he would have hoped, but at least for a day, he will have the largest, most spacious office, with the best view in all of RTC!

-Ryan

New Cafeteria Options

                                

MSW has some interesting articles this morning, and I thought I'd share the MSCT2k8-relevant content with all of our external readers (reprinted sans permission)

You spoke, we listened. New combo plates are sure to satisfy.

April 1, 2008
By Jared Subway

Sea Urchin Cola (twice the caffeine of Mountain Dew), pictured right. 

In a continuing effort to provide employees exactly what they want no matter how much it costs, Microsoft is rolling out a revamped lunch menu with a series of cool new options designed to address the complicated dietary whims of even the most finicky Microsoft employee.

“We challenged ourselves to think outside the box, beyond traditional food-pairing options,” said CIO (Culinary Imagination Officer) Bertha V. Waistline. “Once we let go of our normal thinking on what goes well with what, the brilliant ideas just started flowing in.”

A sampling of the new items follows:

Entrées
• Turkey and Brussels Sprouts Calzone
• Mongolian Lasagna
• Goat Bacon ‘n Chips with Tossed Mango Salad
• Honey-Glazed, Almond Encrusted Oysters with Canteloupe
• Soy Nut Butter and Paprika Corn Muffins

Drinks
• Double Tall Non-Fat Whipped Salmon Mocha Latte—for extra foam, add 25 cents
• Sea Urchin Cola (twice the caffeine of Mountain Dew)
• Possum Extract Protein Shake

Desserts
• Shredded Pork Yogurt Parfait
• General Tso’s Pudding
• Philly Cheese Steak Pie with Strawberry Glaze

*Special Monthly Featured Item
• Sautéed Rotisserie Snickers Bar au Gratin and Steamed Bluegrass with an Espresso-Ginger Reduction

The Ugly Sumo Ceremony

                               

These past few months have been hard: we've switched over to a more agile development methodology, moving from a 4-6 month release schedule to 2-3 weeks. We've gone through a couple minor reorgs in the past 6 months. And delays in internal and essential tool development schedules have made a steadily increasing workload more difficult to manage. So what do we do to help out the troops? That's right, we throw together a couple morale videos!

It began with AdSupport:

Video: Job Shadowing

 

Having finished the first video, of course we had to expand to BizOps:

Video: Living In Fear

 

In recognition of the stellar performances in these videos, at our all-hands meeting this past Monday we handed out the coveted Ugly Sumo award to Francis Yung, for his breakout performance in the BizOps video. Officially (in the press releases), the award was presented for "Best Dramatic Performance / Over-Acting in an OSG Team Morale Video, To The Best Of Our Knowledge." The Ugly Sumo, pictured atop this post, is a prestigious quarterly award within the BOAS organization, with varying qualifications. The first award was handed out for most unread technical books displayed on a desk (nice going Liz!), and the most recent winner was recognized for his fire alarm gaffe, forcing the entire building out onto the street until the fire department showed up to ensure no lives were lost, and to allow us back into the building (alright Joseph!). Thanks Mike for pulling together these videos for us!

And here are the Ugly Sumo nominees:

Video: Ugly Sumo Award

Too Much Free Time

                            

I think the best part about this office prank is the simplicity: one (1) person out on vacation for a week + five (5) boxes of saran wrap (one of which is press-n-seal) + five or six people to wrap every individual item on her desk = 20 fun filled minutes and some pictures to enjoy. Why saran wrap? You know, for freshness. Plus, we thought Mary would appreciate having dust-free equipment when she returned.

But what made this prank stand out was the press-n-seal. That stuff rocks. As you can see from the pictures, we spread out the smaller items and "sealed" each to her desk surface, each with it's own little air pocket. Then we wrapped her chair, monitor, lamp, wall calendar, books and binders, file cabinets and anything else not fastened to the floor, in plastic.

It was a team effort, and for a change -- there was no permanent damage! (That'll be in my commitments) Another advantage to this prank: Mary sent out an email to the team offering extra saran wrap to anyone who might have leftovers from lunch. Very thoughtful, I have to say.

Here's a few more pics: